


Sirius Black and the Secrets His Godson Keeps

by CalicoJane



Series: A Change in Tail [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family Relationships - Freeform, Gen, James Potter Lives, Pre-Relationship, Sirius Black Raises Harry Potter, first year
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:28:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23938423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalicoJane/pseuds/CalicoJane
Summary: In a world where Sirius and Petunia raise Harry, see how Harry's first year would have been different.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Series: A Change in Tail [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1312598
Kudos: 10





	Sirius Black and the Secrets His Godson Keeps

**Author's Note:**

> Harry Potter and assorted characters are the property of JKR and whomever she has signed contracts with, I make no profit off this work.

Harry Potter was not an ordinary boy by the standards of Privet Drive especially if the gossips were to be believed. For one thing, according to the gossips, his father was serving a life sentence for murder. Whom he had murdered depended on which version of the tale you listened to, some said it was the boy’s mother others said someone else had murdered the mother and he’d gone mad with grief and killed his best friend.

Harry lived with his Aunt Petunia, his Uncle Vernon, and his cousin Dudley. But on weekends and on school holidays his godfather, whom he called Padfoot, visited or took him out. Most of Privet Drive thought Padfoot was another strange thing about Harry. For starters, Padfoot sometimes rode his vintage motorcycle, which Privet Drive did not approve of in any way. Not to mention there was his name--what kind of man let his godson call him Padfoot? Harry however adored everything about Padfoot, from his long hair to his odd leather boots, which didn’t look like any kind of leather Harry had seen anywhere else.

Today was Harry’s 11th birthday, and his godfather was coming to take him away for the rest of the summer. Harry was waiting on the front steps of Number 4 with his bag packed when Padfoot’s car, a red convertible, pulled up; and Padfoot got out in time to catch Harry as he ran at him.

“Ready to go, kiddo?”

“Yup!”

“Go tell Petunia we’re leaving then, don’t want her to worry.” Padfoot said and watchedas Harry raced off to tell his aunt, privately wondering if Petunia actually would worry if Harry disappeared. He knew it was mostly the threat of what he would do if Harry was harmed that kept her and that brute she was married to in line, but (though it may have been due to fear of him) they treated Harry alright and he was protected and that was what mattered.

Harry came running back with Aunt Petunia on his heels. Padfoot, or Sirius as he was also known, watched as Petunia grimaced at his car. He knew it was too flashy for the tastes of Privet Drive and tried not to smirk at the look of distaste on her face. He so enjoyed putting that look on her face.

“So we’ll see you back at the end of August?” Petunia asked.

“Yup, and then he’ll have time to pack for before heading off to Scotland in the fall.” Sirius said as together Harry hugged Petunia goodbye and got in the car with Padfoot.

###

They arrived at Padfoot’s London townhouse, a bright, cheerful place with a small garden that Harry loved. As Padfoot unlocked the door he said, “Harry, I think there’s someone here who’d like to see you.”

They entered the airy entry way and a voice called out, “You guys back already?”

Harry dropped his bag and went running toward the voice which had come from the sitting room. “DAD!!!” He ran headlong into the sitting room and flung himself into the arms of James Potter who caught him up into a giant hug. “I didn’t think you’d risk coming back here for a while since I saw you at Christmas. I don’t want you to get caught,” the last was said with concern and a slight pout.

“I know, and I won’t get caught, but eleven is a very important birthday and I wanted to be here for it,” James said as Harry wiggled out of the hug. They sat on the couch together, Harry curling into James’ side.

“Why is eleven an important birthday?”

James planted a kiss on Harry’s forehead, on which there was a very faded scar in the shape of a lightning bolt, and said, “We’ll tell you after dinner. Now why don’t you tell me all about how the spring semester of school was? Since I haven’t seen you since Christmas.”

##

Sirius smiled to himself as he puttered around the kitchen in the basement making dinner, he could hear Harry’s voice wafting down the stairs as the boy told his father about art classes at school and about how cool his project at the science fair had been (it had been pretty damn cool in Sirius’s opinion). This was how it was supposed to be, Harry and James together; not for the first time Sirius railed at the unfairness that had resulted in the Wizengamot not being lenient with James, and not taking into consideration that it had been a spy for the Death Eaters that he had used the Unforgivable on.

But today was supposed to be a happy occasion, he thought as he finished making the salad, it wasn’t the time to dwell on old wrongs. At least it hadn’t been too hard to get James out of Azkaban; at least he could be here now with Harry. The timer dinged and interrupted Sirius’ thoughts; he pulled the garlic bread out of the oven and called Harry and James to dinner.

####

After dinner they went into the living room, to tell Harry why eleven was such an important birthday. More important than ten when he entered double digits. Harry knew things would change at his age. He knew that in the fall he’d be going to a very prestigious boarding school in Scotland, where his parents and Padfoot had gone, though they hadn’t told him the name of the school. And Dudley would be going to Smeltings, where his father went. Things changed when you were eleven.That’s just how things worked.

But that still didn’t seem like it was a big enough reason for his father to come back from wherever he’d been hiding out of the country. So whatever it was, it must be even _bigger_ than that.

“So Harry, you’re probably wondering what’s such a big deal for your father to come in?” Said Padfoot. “Well, there’s something we haven’t told you. Something we—Petunia and I—agree would be kept from you until you turned eleven.” Harry had a lot of questions, but he didn’t think now was the time to interrupt. Padfoot was probably going to tell him, and if he interrupted Padfoot would just get jumbled and start over and then it would be even longer until he had answers.

“See Harry, Padfoot and I have a special gift, your mother had it too. And you have it. We can do magic. There’s a whole society of people who can do magic, and when you go to school in the fall, you’ll learn to do magic too.”

“This sounds like a prank,” Harry said. His father didn’t usually prank him but Padfoot did.

“No prank Harry,” Padfoot said, “watch.” And just like that, Padfoot turned into a large black dog, complete with drool dripping out of his mouth.

“Padfoot?” and he changed back into a man.

“Yes, Harry?”

“Can _I_ do that?”

“It takes a lot of training to be able to turn yourself into an animal, but I have no doubt that one day you will be able to complete the process. It’s called becoming an animagus.”

“Cool! Can you do that Dad?”

James smiled and got up off the sofa and moved to the center of the room. “I need a bit more room than Padfoot.” And where James Potter had been there was large majestic stag.

“Wow! Can I touch you?” The stag that-was-James nodded its head, and Harry petted it and the antlers. Harry looked thoughtful, and then said “Dad, if you can do magic, how come they still kept you in jail till I was three?”

James changed back to himself and hugged his son. “I was in a special prison designed to hold wizards and witches. Even with magic it was supposed to be impossible to break out of. And that’s something else we need to talk about.”

Padfoot took over here, “Harry, not all wizards and witches are good. Some are bad. Some are very, very bad. And with magic you can do a lot of harm as well as a lot of good.”

“Are you talking about Peter? The man who murdered my mom?”

James sighed. “Harry, Peter only sort of killed your mom. Let Padfoot and I explain the whole story. When I was at school a very bad wizard began to gain followers. And he was very bad. His name was Lord Voldemort, but most people called him You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He was so powerful and so evil that people were afraid to say his name. Your mother and I fought against him, as well as Padfoot, Moony, and we thought, Peter. Your mother and I got word that he was looking for us, and we went into hiding. We cast a spell called the Fidelius so that only Peter would be able to give up our location. But it turned out Peter was working for him. Peter’s plan was for me to come home to you and your mom dead. But something happened. Voldemort killed your mom, that’s true. But when you went to kill you, her love protected you. Your mom loved you so much that Voldemort couldn’t cast a spell against you. His spell to kill you rebounded, and killed him. I came home and thought you were both dead and killed Peter, because he had betrayed us. That’s why I was sent to prison.

“But Harry, because Voldemort couldn’t kill you, and because his spell rebounded and he disappeared, you are famous in the wizarding world. You’re called The Boy Who Lived. That’s why all the people in funny clothes bow to you or shake your hand.”

“So magic doesn’t solve everything?”

Padfoot smiled. “No Harry, magic doesn’t solve everything. In fact, sometimes it seems like it just creates more problems. Now, here’s your official invite into the Wizarding School Hogwarts. Why don’t you read it, and tomorrow we’ll go to Diagon Ally and buy your school supplies.”

**Author's Note:**

> Your kudos and comments are appreciated.


End file.
